Home ownership becomes more expensive
Volksbanks expect significantly rising real estate prices
For many people, the dream of their own four walls is priceless. The BVR banking association expects a further trend upwards for the prices – and calls on politics to counteract the countermeasures.
According to the People’s and Raiffeisen banks, houses and apartments in Germany will be noticeably more expensive. The BVR banking association expects a price increase for self -occupied residential properties by 3.2 percent in the current year and with a further 3.1 percent 2026.
The housing market is tense, the Federal Association of German Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken writes: “Home ownership remains difficult for many households.” BVR chief economist Andreas Bley adds: “The number of newly created apartments goes back, while the construction costs are increasing. This makes families to their own home more and more difficult.”
More than six annual income for real estate purchase
According to the study, real estate prices have decoupled from the financial possibilities of people in many regions of Germany. In the seven largest cities – Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt/Main, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf – the prices for home ownership from 2007 to 2024 increased by more than a third more than the available income. Nationwide, real estate prices increased by 16 percent more than the available income in the period.
Other investigations come to the conclusion that an average of 6.4 annual net income for real estate purchase must be issued in Germany. In Munich as the most expensive plaster it is 14.7 annual net income, the cheapest is the real estate acquisition in the Thuringian district of Hildburghausen with 1.8.
Houses and apartments in Germany had in the meantime have a discount after years of real estate boom. The prices have attracted again since the summer, while the new building has broken down and rents in the cities are increasing.
Politics with new initiatives against the housing crisis
“In order to defuse the housing crisis, the new building must be boosted again,” warns the BVR. The federal government’s “construction turbo” is a real step. This wants to advance the sluggish housing in Germany with faster permits and a waiver of development plans. New special regulations in the Building Code should ensure that foreseeable is planned, approved and built much faster.
The BVR sees the extension of the rental price brake critically until the end of 2029: “It may relieve the rental apartment market at short notice, but should have an impact in the long term inhibiting an investment and therefore rather cut the living space.”
dpa
Source: Stern
